Week 2 Roundup

Members of the Danville High School Band of Vikings perform in Danville Friday August 31, 2012.

St. Joseph-Ogden 50

Carterville 14

ST. JOSEPH — Chase Patton had 148 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter to power the Spartans.

The senior tailback finished with three rushing touchdowns and credited his offensive line for creating space after halftime.

"The line was unbelievable in the second half. I just got behind them and ran," Patton said. "The field was crazy; I couldn't believe what I saw. There were big holes, and I could just follow the fullback."

In the first half, however, the Spartans did not create many big holes. In fact, Carterville started the game by creating holes in SJ-O's defense. On their first drive, the Lions scored, with quarterback Mike Aschemann scoring the touchdown.

The poor start was SJ-O's second in a row and worried coach Dick Duval.

"This is a bad habit to get in because better teams are going to make you pay for having slow starts," he said.

SJ-O had 78 yards of total offense in the first two quarters. Patton had one big play in the first half, a 31-yard scamper to the end zone, but SJ-O's only other touchdown in the first half came from special teams.

Near the end of the first quarter, Bryce Stewart blocked a punt and Louis Acklin fell on top of it to give the Spartans a 14-7 lead. Stewart also blocked a punt in the third quarter, setting up a 7-yard touchdown throw from Dalton Walsh to Acklin.

Walsh threw for two touchdowns in the second half, the other an 11-yard completion to Connor James. He finished 3 of 7 for 41 yards.

The Spartans, ranked sixth in Class 3A, played much better in the second half, but Duval was still looking for more from his players.

"Even in the second half I was disappointed in our tackling ... we've got to be able to tackle someone in the open field," he said.

— Chris Davies

Cerro Gordo/Bement 60

Westville 8

CERRO GORDO — Dee Woods and Steve Isbell each rushed for three touchdowns as the Broncos made an early-season statement, bolting to a 47-0 lead after three quarters.

"I knew coming in we had potential," coach Andy Kerley said. "We have started the season better than in the past. We wanted to be in the driver's seat, and we have been able to do that."

CHAMPAIGN — Jimmy Fitzgerald scored on a 1-yard run and hit Steven Lee with a touchdown pass to tie the game at 20 early in the fourth quarter, but Decatur MacArthur scored 10 unanswered points to leave Tommy Stewart Field with a Big 12 win.

The Chargers, who defeated Decatur Eisenhower on the road to open the season, got a touchdown run from Austin Saathoff in the first quarter.

— Marcus Jackson

St. Rita 49

Danville 7

DANVILLE — The Vikings were held to 49 first-half yards and faced a running clock at Whitesell Field the entire second half after falling behind 10th-rated (Class 8A) St. Rita 42-0 at intermission.

"They handled us up front and in every phase of the game," Danville coach B.J. Luke said. "They are as good as advertised. We have to get better every week and hope by the end of the season, we're a decent team."

The Vikings, losing for the season week in a row at home, got on the scoreboard on a 49-yard pass from Trent Sherfield to Chris Collier. Justin Robinson, one of three Vikings who left the game early with injuries, returned to the field to kick the extra point.

The status of Danville linebacker Daniel Carter and cornerback Marcus Brown is more uncertain.

"They have an outstanding power game," Luke said. "We had a couple kids get hurt early, and it snowballed from there."

Danville ended with 166 yards, 100 coming on the ground. St. Rita compiled 402 yards, 384 from its rushing attack.

— Fred Kroner

Villa Grove 82

Schlarman 6

VILLA GROVE — Ryan Pearce scored eight touchdowns and rushed for 251 yards on 14 carries for the Blue Devils, who led 69-0 at halftime. Pearce scored his final two TDs in the third quarter on runs of 68 and 27 yards.

John Henderson was 4 of 7 for 59 yards, Terrion Price rushed for 69 yards and Shane Frick finished with eight tackles and an interception. Skylur Orwick had seven tackles, and Austin Hubbart picked off a pass.

Prairie Central 39

Mahomet-Seymour 20

FAIRBURY — Addison Bounds and Ian Briscoe teamed up to break open a close game in the third quarter, connecting on two 23-yard touchdown passes, for Prairie Central.

"We played a good football team tonight," Bulldogs coach Keith Pogue said. "We're young, and we made some mistakes. We'll get better. We need to work on focus."

Pogue said he was impressed with Bounds and Briscoe.

"They're both great athletes. We knew that coming in to the game. We tried to practice against them all week, but they are a lot better in person."

The Bulldogs led 7-0 after the first quarter. Starting quarterback Andrew Roney connected on a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Francisco.

The game was tied at 7 at halftime, but Prairie Central scored 19 unanswered points to take the lead.

M-S put sophomore quarterback Joe Kenney in to jump-start the offense, and he delivered. Kenney tossed a 67-yard touchdown to Francisco on his second varsity pass.

"The change at quarterback was not due to lack of effort. We just needed a spark," Pogue said.

— Terry Greene

Tri-Valley 47

GCMS 0

DOWNS — A slow start did in Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, which trailed 33-0 at halftime.

Watseka 49

Paris 21

PARIS — Austin Blair scored four touchdowns as unbeaten Watseka won its second consecutive road game. Daulton DePatis rushed for 130 yards and scored one TD as did Watseka teammate Tanner Martin, who returned an interception 17 yards.

Bismarck-Henning 44

Arcola 0

BISMARCK — The unbeaten Blue Devils scored twice in the opening minute and led 12-0 after 50 seconds.

By halftime, Patrick Ganley and Kevin Allen had each rushed for at least 120 yards, while combining for four touchdowns.

Ty Hufford intercepted two passes, one of which he returned for a score. Mo Abbed also returned an interception for a score. Allen finished with 146 rushing yards and Ganley gained 141 for B-H, which ran 46 plays from scrimmage without a pass and totaled 447 yards.

CATLIN — Taylor Kirby rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns — including a 75-yarder — as the Storm roared back from an early deficit. Cole Taylor added 89 yards rushing and two scores for Salt Fork, which took control with a 33-point second quarter.

Steven Meade had 12 tackles, and Clayton Fauver added eight.

Unity 7

Maroa-Forsyth 6

MAROA — First it was a late-arriving team bus that resulted in the Rockets arriving for their Okaw Valley showdown a tad tardy. Then it was a tipped pass that resulted in a fluky Maroa-Forsyth touchdown for a halftime lead. Finally, it rained.

"It looked like it was going to be one of those nights," Unity coach Scott Hamilton said. "I didn't think we were going to figure it out. But the kids kept plugging along and hanging in there."

CHAMPAIGN — Kevin Carroll returned the opening kickoff for a score and added two long touchdown catches as the Sabers scored all their points in the first half.

Carroll finished with three catches for 95 yards, hooking up with quarterback Storm Joop from 60 and 25 yards out. Nate Stringer led St. Thomas More with 81 yards rushing, including TD bursts of 40 and 42 yards.

Andrew Young added 69 yards and a touchdown.

Tremont 25

Fisher 0

FISHER — Even before September arrived, Fisher coach Matt Leng stated the significance of Friday's home opener.

"It is a must-win game," Leng said earlier this week.

He'll most likely say that the rest of the season after Tremont defeated the Bunnies at Kellar Field to drop Fisher to 0-2. And it only gets tougher from here for the Bunnies. Six of their final seven games are against playoff teams from 2011.

"Right now, we're down a little bit," Leng said. "We're probably a little sore, a little tired, but we're going to have to fight through and persevere."

Tremont junior Isaiah Thompson rushed for two touchdowns of more than 70 yards and finished with 155 yards on three carries. His 71-yard touchdown run with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter put the Turks up 19-0 and silenced the Fisher faithful.

"Isaiah's got a lot of speed," Tremont coach Lou Wicks said. "We use him kind of as a floating fullback. We like the jet sweeps with him, and some of those things we did today off those jet sweeps were big for us."

Tremont capitalized on two big plays to take a 12-0 lead into halftime. A 69-yard pass from junior quarterback Konnor O'Keefe (8-of-16 passing for 157 yards) to senior receiver Luke Wagenbach (three catches for 114 yards) gave Tremont a 6-0 lead with 5:50 left in the first quarter.

Two series later and again on Tremont's second play of its possession, Thompson scampered 83 yards untouched down the right sideline to make it 12-0 Tremont with 10:12 left in the second quarter.

"For the most part, we did a good job against them defensively up the middle," Fisher senior linebacker/fullback Hans Carmien said. "Some of our pass defenses and their sweeps hurt us. We've just got to improve on (containing) the outside run."

Fisher's best scoring chance in the first half came when Carmien recovered a Tremont fumble and ran it back 18 yards to Tremont's 39-yard line with 1:30 left in the first quarter. But the Bunnies' drive stalled, resulting in a punt five plays later.

Tremont outgained Fisher 378-87 in total offense. Carmien led the Bunnies with 58 yards rushing on 18 carries.

"We were a step slow on offense," Leng said. "We let some big plays happen on defense, but on the flip side of that, I thought in the second half we really came out and played some inspired football. We kind of moved it. We just couldn't sustain a drive."

The Bunnies managed four first downs the whole game and lost two fumbles fielding punts and kickoff returns in the second half.

"I'm frustrated, but at the same time, I see the light at the end of the tunnel," Leng said. "I think these guys are a good group of kids that want to work hard. We're going to continue to work hard. I'm not going to give up."